What the Paper Said

In this episode – 12 April 1925 – we learn why the Elgin Marbles should remain in Britain while the pound should remain off the Gold Standard. French drivers get better but French students and French politicians do not. An incorrigible rogue gets his comeuppance while a failed Field Marshal gets anything but. And the world says its goodbyes to a Russian Patriarch, the English Grand Jury and the Oxford boat.

The downside of the universal franchise In this episode we learn about the downside of the universal franchise and the downside of being a husband. A revolutionary new technology gets shown off in a department store while a revolutionary old technology gets a tasteful new home. We learn about the hidden dangers of cricket. The Europeans take on the Americans while the Americans take on Darwin. Neither go well. Bavarians decide that the best way to preserve freedom is to end it – at least in Hitler’s case. And Arabs decide that the best way to preserve an Arab Palestine is “sulky obstruction”. Meanwhile we learn about the number of London buses and a very, very big fraud.

In this episode – 22 March 1925 – we find out what happened when a coal mine closed. It’s not good. Especially, when there’s a new source of energy from far, far away. A couple of prominent people died this week and hundreds of not very prominent people died in the United States. A communist is kidnapped but no one knows who by. My money’s on Ukrainians who have every reason to dislike communists. Madam Tussaud’s suffers a terrible fire but they’d better not rebuild in fireproof steel – the unions wouldn’t like that. Another venerable institution that they’re trying to rebuild is the gold standard. But not if Mr Keynes has anything to do with it.

A catch up of some of what’s featured in the pages of The Times of 1925 since the last episode.

In this episode – 1 February 1925 – we find that some people are in a bit of a tizzy over nightclubs. It turns out for the first and only time in history young people are staying up late to drink and dance. Luckily the London Public Morality Council is on the case. We also learn how America is seeking to corrupt the fine, upstanding if a bit dour denizens of Canada with “luxuries and attractions”. In the news its good news – of a kind – for Herbert Asquith and St Paul’s and Trotsky. But it’s bad news for me and the Irish potato. And what are we to make of London’s attempt at giving itself a motto and Britain’s exceptionally high rainfall?

In this episode – the week ending 25 January 1925 – once again it’s the gold standard. The Times’s City Editor looks back at how Britain went off gold at the outbreak of the First World War and how the standard might be restored. There is also some pause for those – like me – who think that gold is the cure for the inflationary disease. Otherwise, can monopolies really exist in a free market? Twickenham provides a test case and what can North London do to counter the invasion at 9 p.m. every Sunday? In the headlines, it’s bad news for Trotsky, Croatian politicians and daylight in the day time. 

In this episode – the four weeks ending 18 January 1925 – Problems at St Paul’s; Mussolini’s position becomes “untenable”; can Londoners finally say goodbye to soggy seats? Problems with communism; and what I learnt about the gold market.

In this episode some British trade unionists return from Russia. They don't appear to have learnt anything. We learn about how to tackle the non-existent crime wave. More seriously we learn about the dangers of bananas and the radio. Plus English manners and the highs and lows of London nightlife.

The Great Depression was – until recently – the greatest economic disaster since the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. And yet we no one seems to know what caused it. At least, no one in the mainstream. Like the First World War we are – often – supposed to believe that it came out of a clear blue sky. In this episode we get a hint – I wouldn’t put it higher than that – of an alternative explanation.  Also in this episode, London’s Mr Transport makes the case for state control, the Estonian President makes a swift exit, The Times makes some very bold statements on the question of immigration and assimilation.  And Geordies go head to head with soft southerners and lose.

In this episode – 7 December 1924 – we’re going to be mainly talking about immigration. The Times is publishing a series of articles on the extent and impact of immigration a hundred years ago. Who came? Why did they come? What did they do? What was the impact on the natives? It is a complicated picture – although – as we shall see – the figure for net migration is not.  We are lucky in that from the perspective of today we can see if our forebears’ fears – and they were mostly fears – were justified or not. So, was the immigration policy of 1924 a success? Let’s see.

 In this episode – the week ending 30 November 1924 – why you shouldn’t trust everything newspapers tell you. Why gangsters shouldn’t hang around in florists. Britain issues an ultimatum which has a familiar ring to it. But don’t worry, it’s OK when we do it. A blackmailer sues for the return of his ill-gotten gains and robbers get ever more daring.

In this episode – the week ending 23 November 1924 – we ask just how free were America's railroads a hundred years ago? Turns out, not very. Europeans try to avoid paying their fair share. Marie Stopes is in court again. Also, bad news for Lloyd George, Nazi treasurers, Soho nightclub owners and Russians with two cows. 

In this episode – the week ending 16 November 1924 – the brightest and the best gaze into their crystal balls to tell us what the next war will be like. And get it wrong. There is more correspondence on poverty, there is something odd going on in the gold market and we learn about London’s tall buildings. We learn about German Anglophobia and French driving habits. Also, how many Etonians does it take to make a cabinet and what is the best way to pay for theatre tickets: money or chocolate?

In this episode – the week ending 9 November 1924 – Calvin Coolidge wins a landslide in the US presidential election. Winston Churchill gets a promotion - one that he and everybody else will live to regret. The government picks some airship winners. It’s not going well for the Emperor of China and we find out why London up until recently had so few tall buildings. And poverty, the workhouse and the K.O. Club.

This week – the week ending 2 November 1924 – the Conservative/Unionist Party achieves the biggest and least-well-known election victory of the 20th century. Arguably. Ramsay MacDonald goes very quiet. Churchill is cheered by a crowd. Churchill is not cheered by the Navy. Russians cause trouble in Britain. Russians cause trouble in British Columbia. And Russians cause trouble for Stalin. And Zinoviev makes trouble for Zinoviev.

In this episode – the week ending 26 October 1924 – the Zinoviev Letter hits the press. What does it say? Is it a forgery? Does it matter? Did it make any difference? Also in this episode Gresham's Law and the political speech; the Germans go to the polls again; Grand Admiral Tirpitz the Peacemaker; and why you shouldn't trust the Rumanian press.

In this episode – the 19 October 1924 – it's election fever yet again. Manifestoes, speeches, whistle-stops, radio, disruption, Russian interference, Fascist interference. Will the country get it right this time? Probably yes. Or as right as they can. Also Mecca falls, some gun running and should there be preservatives in food and lights on bicycles and where was Columbus from?

In this episode – the week ending 12 October 1924 – Britain faces yet another general election, the third in three years. Will they get it right this time? Meanwhile we get to have fun with national income statistics. Also an Irish republican gets it wrong, and I spot a couple of terms I did not expect to see.

In this episode – the week ending 4 October 1924 – the Labour Party has a communism problem. A big communism problem. And a smaller corruption problem. The Americans have begun dabbling with opinion polls; South Africa has a race problem; Britain deals with an asylum seeker and a man is convicted of "furious driving"

In this episode – the week ending 28 September 1924 – we ask the question who is Zaghlul Pasha? While we get an answer to that, the intricacies of Britain's relationship with Egypt remain opaque. A woman complains about woman drivers. It is a good week for HMS Hood, Winston Churchill London ratepayers and mainline electrification economics and a bad week for Lord Long, communists in the Labour Party and industrial relations.